In the prior art height gages have been in existence for many years and have generally taken the form of a base upon which a rectangular column was mounted and a carriage was slidably engaged with the vertical column. For the purpose of measurement the column has been provided with graduations and usually have included a vernier arrangement so that the accuracy of the gage could be improved. A typical example of the configuration of this type of height gage which are typically illustrated as, for example, in the Gerber U.S. Pat. No. 2,465,530. As will be appreciated by those in the art, it has, in the past, always been necessary to adjust this type of height gage by rough and vernier adjustments and then by reading these rough and vernier adjustments on precision scales. In use, of course, a reference heading is generally first recorded and then a second reading is made and also recorded with a subtraction operation occurring if the differential between the two measured heights is desired.
Some suggestions have been made in the prior art for improving on this arrangement as, for example, in Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,337 where a direct readout by the utilization of electronic means has been proposed. Height gages with means for obtaining direct readout of dimensional figures do not appear in the prior art utilizing a circular column mounted on a base. Circular columns, however, have been used in certain types of devices as mounting means for other measuring devices and have always been used where it has been desirable to provide swiveling of the carriage on the column. For gaging purposes, however, this is not a desirable result and the present invention relates to an arrangement where a height gage is mounted on a circular column with means for generating height or distance information.